International disputes: Lithuania and Russia committed to demarcating their boundary in 2006 in accordance with the land and maritime treaty ratified by Russia in May 2003 and by Lithuania in 1999; Lithuania operates a simplified transit regime for Russian nationals traveling from the Kaliningrad coastal exclave into Russia, while still conforming, as a EU member state having an external border with a non-EU member, to strict Schengen border rules; boundary demarcated with Latvia and Lithuania; as of January 2007, ground demarcation of the boundary with Belarus was complete and mapped with final ratification documents in preparation.

Geography

Lithuania is situated on the eastern shore of
the Baltic Sea and borders Latvia on the north, Belarus on the east and
south, and Poland and the Kaliningrad region of Russia on the southwest.
It is a country of gently rolling hills, many forests, rivers and streams,
and lakes. Its principal natural resource is agricultural land.

Government

Parliamentary democracy.

History

The Liths, or Lithuanians, united in the 12th
century under the rule of Mindaugas, who became king in 1251. Through
marriage, one of the later Lithuanian rulers became the king of Poland
(Ladislaus II) in 1386, uniting the countries. In 1410, the Poles and
Lithuanians defeated the powerful Teutonic Knights at Tannenberg. From the
14th to the 16th century, Poland and Lithuania made up one of medieval
Europe's largest empires, stretching from the Black Sea almost to Moscow.
The two countries formed a confederation for almost 200 years, and in 1569
they formally united. Russia, Prussia, and Austria partitioned Poland in
1772, 1792, and 1795. As a consequence, Lithuania came under Russian rule
after the last partition. Russia attempted to immerse Lithuania in Russian
culture and language, but anti-Russian sentiment continued to grow.
Following World War I and the collapse of Russia, Lithuania declared
independence (1918), under German protection.

The republic was then annexed by the Soviet
Union in 1940. From June 1941 to 1944, it was occupied by German troops,
with whom Lithuania served in World War II. Some 240,000 Jews were
massacred in Lithuania during the Nazi years. In 1944, the Soviets again
annexed Lithuania.

The Lithuanian independence movement reemerged
in 1988. In 1990, Vytautas Landsbergis, the non-Communist head of the
largest Lithuanian popular movement (Sajudis), was elected president. On
the same day, the Supreme Council rejected Soviet rule and declared the
restoration of Lithuania's independence, the first Baltic republic to take
this action. Confrontation with the Soviet Union ensued along with
economic sanctions, but they were lifted after both sides agreed to a
face-saving compromise.